At last, perspective

Month: August 2014

Steve Jobs caught something real when he was making Toy Story for Pixar. He said that everything has its own essence. “The essence of a toy is to be played with by children….what is a person’s essence, the essence of a place, of an inanimate thing? That is what movie magic can show.” Continue reading →

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This is one of the articles I wrote for a New York weekly when I was 60, never suspecting that if I lived to be 80, I could give myself the permission I had always wanted.

The Permission

For years it had been a fantasy: the letter would arrive unsigned, in the mail. “I am giving you a present of one year of time,” it would say. “You will have no duties or obligations, real or imagined, trivial or grand. Happy Birthday.” Time without duty. One year. I looked at the calendar and smiled at the things I wouldn’t have to do. It was sprinkled already with six months of the small obligations of the mechanics of living and the larger ones of family, business and pleasure. I scanned the self-replenishing errand list and put it, with the calendar, in the drawer. Continue reading →

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A while ago, I began to realize that as my peers move into oldest age, the ones who carry with them tools from the arts – music, painting, drawing, writing – are equipped – given health – to fill their days with pleasure. They are seldom bored. You don’t have to be mobile to read or write or play the piano or paint. Continue reading →

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About this Blog

Joan Ellis

Click for Movie Reviews by Joan Ellis

Married at 19, worked at CIA for two years before becoming support system for my three children and a husband who was starting a company from scratch. Nine grandchildren. At 60 became a movie critic and writer with a big appetite for random information. Education: 2 years public, 2 years private high school, B.A. Vassar College.